REPUBLICANS work on SHORT-TERM DEBT plan

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WASHINGTON President Barack Obama opened talks with House Republicans on Thursday about their plan to lift the debt ceiling through Thanksgiving, raising hopes that the first default on the nation's debt would be averted.

But after a 90-minute meeting at the White House, the two sides remained at odds over how and when to end the shutdown – now in its 11th day – with Obama insisting Republicans reopen agencies before negotiations over broader budget issues can begin.

In the Senate, meanwhile, top Republicans began crafting a proposal that would reopen the government and raise the federal debt limit for as long as three months – an approach closer to the terms Obama has set.

The developments meant bipartisan talks suddenly were under way on two tracks Thursday after weeks of stalemate. Major questions remain, however, about the path ahead.

Both sides described Obama's evening session with House Republicans as a “good meeting” and said talks will continue. “The president's goal remains to ensure we pay the bills we've incurred, reopen the government and get back to the business of growing the economy,” the White House said in a statement.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, left the session without speaking to reporters. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said the meeting was “clarifying.”

White House officials were careful not to characterize the meeting as a negotiation, after Obama spent weeks publicly and privately declaring he would not do so over lifting the debt ceiling. According to a Democrat familiar with the meeting, Obama told Boehner to come back with proposals for reopening the government but reiterated he would not make policy concessions.

Republicans, however, did describe the process as a negotiation. The 20 House Republicans – Boehner declined the offer to bring all 232 GOP lawmakers to the White House – gathered in the Roosevelt Room with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and other senior officials.

A similar huddle is slated for late this morning when Obama will host Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the Senate Republican Conference.

The House proposal would push off the threat of default from Oct. 17 until Nov. 22, but would not end the shutdown, an idea that fell flat in the Senate with both parties. McConnell waded into the fray for the first time, holding meetings with his rank-and-file members to develop a competing Senate proposal.

The package was being assembled by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who said she also is in talks with Senate Democrats.

“I was surprised that the House decided to deal only with the debt limit and not with the continued closure of government,” Collins said. “I think that we have to deal with both issues, and we need to do so quickly.”

Senate Democrats were intrigued by Collins' proposal but unhappy with its demand for Democratic concessions. Those would include the repeal of a tax on medical devices that helps fund Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act, and new income-verification procedures for people who receive tax subsidies to buy health insurance on the law's new exchanges.

In addition, Collins' proposal would maintain deep cuts known as sequestration through at least March, although it would grant agencies greater flexibility to decide where the cuts would fall.

The Senate, meanwhile, is on track to vote Saturday on a separate Democratic proposal that would suspend enforcement of the debt limit through 2014. It was unclear late Thursday whether that measure would proceed.

Boehner's offer to temporarily lift the debt limit but keep the government shuttered was engineered in part to satisfy far-right conservatives, who first suggested using the threat of a shutdown to strip funding for the law.

Many creators of that strategy – including Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Mike Lee, R-Utah – voiced support for Boehner's latest gambit.

GOP leaders appear increasingly eager to extract the party from the health care fight, which has not only failed to achieve its goals but also has decimated the party's reputation among voters. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey released Thursday, 24 percent of voters have a positive view of the GOP – the lowest in 24 years of polling.

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